Enrollment through the state and federal insurance exchanges topped 1.1 million in January, providing further evidence that the marketplaces have largely recovered from the bungled Obamacare launch.
During the first four months of the open enrollment period, nearly 3.3 million individuals signed up for coverage, according to figures released by HHS last week. That includes 1.9 million through the federal HealthCare.gov website and 1.4 million through the state-run exchanges in 14 states and the District of Columbia.
That is more than halfway toward the Congressional Budget Office's downgraded projection of 6 million enrollments by March 31, though the pace of enrollments is still 25% behind CMS projections. (Originally the CBO projected 7.1 million enrollments by March 31.) But for the first month since the exchanges opened for business on Oct. 1, enrollments in January topped expectations. States varied widely in achieving projected enrollment, with Connecticut far exceeding its target and Massachusetts falling far short.
The continued brisk enrollment pace is particularly notable because many experts anticipated a significant drop-off in signups during January. That's because many individuals with significant health problems scurried to select a plan by the end of December so they could have coverage at the start of 2014.